Washington Nationals at Houston Astros
Date: 22 October 2019
When: 8:08 p.m.
Where: Minute Maid Park in Houston
TV: Fox | FoxSports
The only two changes from the National League Championship Series are the additions of relievers Wander Suero and Joe Ross. The Nationals dropped relievers Austin Voth and Roenis Elías, neither of whom has pitched this postseason, to make room.
The back-of-the-bullpen shuffling likely won’t matter unless one game becomes an Astros blowout. The Nationals have shown throughout the postseason, including in an NLCS Game 3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, they’ll still use their best relievers when leading large (in that case, 8-1). If the games are close, expect what we’ve seen throughout this postseason — 25 of the team’s 28 relief appearances have been made by Rodney, Rainey, Hudson, Doolittle or a starter.
Suero makes sense because Manager Dave Martinez relied on the 27-year-old right-hander all season. He made a team-high 78 appearances. Ross could serve as a pinch-runner if need be and, for that reason, expect Guerra to get the first crack at any long relief situations.
The Washington Nationals will face the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night, but the main story line no longer appears to be the Nationals’ first trip there, or one of the best pitching matchups in recent history between Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole. The biggest story broke on Monday night, when reports surfaced of an Astros front office member yelling at three female reporters during a clubhouse celebration on Saturday night. Assistant general manager Brandon Taubman reportedly screamed that he was glad the Astros last season acquired closer Roberto Osuna, who was suspended early in 2018 for violating MLB’s policy on domestic assault.
On the field, the Nationals hope to gain clarity on what their rotation will look like back in Washington. They must choose a designated hitter for the American League ballpark. They will closely monitor the health of Astros reliever Ryan Pressly, the right-handed reliever whose absence could greatly impact the Nationals chances.
The pitching matchup offers a study in similarities. Scherzer against Cole pits two of the best, hard-throwing aces in the league. They have nearly the same repertoires, four-seam fastballs roughly half the time, a slider to complement it. Scherzer’s third pitch is his change-up, and Cole’s is his curveball, but they both throw it about 15 percent of the time — and they exchange fourth pitches (curveball for Scherzer, change-up for Cole) at almost the same rate too (roughly 8 percent).
After starting the season 19-31, the Nationals were pretty much left for dead by a majority of baseball punditry. Instead of succumbing to what many considered the inevitable, they were able to roar back and play some fantastic baseball down the stretch and capture a Wild Card spot. However, there wasn’t a whole lot of hope after that as Washington had spent years showing promise in the regular season only to get drummed out of the playoffs early and often. They looked headed for the same this year in the WC game until a dramatic 3-run rally in the bottom of the 8th stunned the Brewers and allowed them to advance.
Of course, in spite of a pair of workhorse aces and several budding superstars, the Nationals had been unable to win even a single postseason series until they finally broke out over the the Dodgers this year. After going to 5 games against them, two of which were elimination games for the Nats, they were able to slay Goliath and advance to their first NLCS. It was an NLCS where they ended up making the Cardinals look like absolute fools, offensively speaking, and brought joy to my petty, petty heart. They now head to the World Series for the first time in franchise history, and have all the looks of a team getting hot at the right time.
Roster:
Starters (four): Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Aníbal Sánchez
Relievers (seven): Daniel Hudson, Sean Doolittle, Tanner Rainey, Fernando Rodney, Wander Suero, Joe Ross, Javy Guerra
Catchers (two): Yan Gomes, Kurt Suzuki
Infielders (seven): Ryan Zimmerman, Howie Kendrick, Matt Adams, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Brian Dozier, Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon
Outfielders (five): Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Adam Eaton, Gerardo Parra, Michael A. Taylor
Date: 22 October 2019
When: 8:08 p.m.
Where: Minute Maid Park in Houston
TV: Fox | FoxSports
The only two changes from the National League Championship Series are the additions of relievers Wander Suero and Joe Ross. The Nationals dropped relievers Austin Voth and Roenis Elías, neither of whom has pitched this postseason, to make room.
The back-of-the-bullpen shuffling likely won’t matter unless one game becomes an Astros blowout. The Nationals have shown throughout the postseason, including in an NLCS Game 3 win over the St. Louis Cardinals, they’ll still use their best relievers when leading large (in that case, 8-1). If the games are close, expect what we’ve seen throughout this postseason — 25 of the team’s 28 relief appearances have been made by Rodney, Rainey, Hudson, Doolittle or a starter.
Suero makes sense because Manager Dave Martinez relied on the 27-year-old right-hander all season. He made a team-high 78 appearances. Ross could serve as a pinch-runner if need be and, for that reason, expect Guerra to get the first crack at any long relief situations.
The Washington Nationals will face the Houston Astros in Game 1 of the World Series on Tuesday night, but the main story line no longer appears to be the Nationals’ first trip there, or one of the best pitching matchups in recent history between Max Scherzer and Gerrit Cole. The biggest story broke on Monday night, when reports surfaced of an Astros front office member yelling at three female reporters during a clubhouse celebration on Saturday night. Assistant general manager Brandon Taubman reportedly screamed that he was glad the Astros last season acquired closer Roberto Osuna, who was suspended early in 2018 for violating MLB’s policy on domestic assault.
On the field, the Nationals hope to gain clarity on what their rotation will look like back in Washington. They must choose a designated hitter for the American League ballpark. They will closely monitor the health of Astros reliever Ryan Pressly, the right-handed reliever whose absence could greatly impact the Nationals chances.
The pitching matchup offers a study in similarities. Scherzer against Cole pits two of the best, hard-throwing aces in the league. They have nearly the same repertoires, four-seam fastballs roughly half the time, a slider to complement it. Scherzer’s third pitch is his change-up, and Cole’s is his curveball, but they both throw it about 15 percent of the time — and they exchange fourth pitches (curveball for Scherzer, change-up for Cole) at almost the same rate too (roughly 8 percent).
After starting the season 19-31, the Nationals were pretty much left for dead by a majority of baseball punditry. Instead of succumbing to what many considered the inevitable, they were able to roar back and play some fantastic baseball down the stretch and capture a Wild Card spot. However, there wasn’t a whole lot of hope after that as Washington had spent years showing promise in the regular season only to get drummed out of the playoffs early and often. They looked headed for the same this year in the WC game until a dramatic 3-run rally in the bottom of the 8th stunned the Brewers and allowed them to advance.
Of course, in spite of a pair of workhorse aces and several budding superstars, the Nationals had been unable to win even a single postseason series until they finally broke out over the the Dodgers this year. After going to 5 games against them, two of which were elimination games for the Nats, they were able to slay Goliath and advance to their first NLCS. It was an NLCS where they ended up making the Cardinals look like absolute fools, offensively speaking, and brought joy to my petty, petty heart. They now head to the World Series for the first time in franchise history, and have all the looks of a team getting hot at the right time.
Roster:
Starters (four): Max Scherzer, Stephen Strasburg, Patrick Corbin, Aníbal Sánchez
Relievers (seven): Daniel Hudson, Sean Doolittle, Tanner Rainey, Fernando Rodney, Wander Suero, Joe Ross, Javy Guerra
Catchers (two): Yan Gomes, Kurt Suzuki
Infielders (seven): Ryan Zimmerman, Howie Kendrick, Matt Adams, Asdrúbal Cabrera, Brian Dozier, Trea Turner, Anthony Rendon
Outfielders (five): Juan Soto, Victor Robles, Adam Eaton, Gerardo Parra, Michael A. Taylor
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